A former staffer for Harvey Weinstein’s production company revealed they were “appalled” by the amount of time former President Bill Clinton gave to the disgraced Hollywood mogul in the ’90s.
Weinstein was a huge Democratic donor and associate of the Clintons before being convicted of sex crimes in 2018.
The Hollywood producer and co-founder of Miramax Films reportedly phoned Clinton to seek advice on how to boost Miramax’s 1996 film, “Sling Blade” to Oscar stardom.
The anecdote comes from a new book about the history of the Academy Awards entitled, “Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears,” by The New Yorker writer Michael Schulman, published last month.
Schulman described how Clinton was willing to help Weinstein with his career ambitions.
“Eager to become a political power-player, Weinstein had become a fundraiser for the Clintons and part of their social circle on Martha’s Vineyard. Realizing that both Clinton and Thornton were Arkansas boys, Weinstein picked the president’s brain for tips on Thornton’s Oscar campaign,” Schulman wrote.
One former Miramax employee admitted they were shocked by the attention the president gave the Hollywood studio.
“I was so appalled that the President of the United States would spend half an hour with us on the phone,” an unnamed former Miramax staffer told the author.
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“I lost all respect for him well before Monica Lewinsky, because I could see how much access the Clintons were giving Harvey,” the person continued.
Weinstein, the co-founder of Miramax Films and later The Weinstein Company, was one of the biggest Hollywood donors to the Democratic Party before he was convicted of rape and sexual assault. He is currently serving a 23-year-sentence for a rape conviction in New York.
Weinstein also fundraised for Bill Clinton’s legal defense fund in the ‘90s, according to a Washington Post report, before later donating to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.
Fox News previously reported that the powerful producer gave or helped raise more than $100,000 for Barack Obama and the Clintons since at least 1995, according to OpenSecrets.org. Roughly half of that went to Hillary Clinton’s presidential and Senate campaigns, including a political committee she used to support other Democrats and a joint fund with the DNC in 2016.
